A Reimagining of the Chacoan World

A new paradigm of the Chacoan world is presented, wherein Chaco Canyon is considered to be a mostly unoccupied architectural complex that functioned primarily as a pilgrimage destination. Chaco was the political, religious, and social focal point of people living in outlying regions. The resident population of the Canyon consisted of a small number of caretakers, charged with maintaining great house structures, food supplies, and their ceremonial contents. Chacoan chiefdoms were mostly located in large, well-watered, agriculturally-based communities situated at the base of mountains that ring the San Juan Basin, e.g., the Chuskas. Chiefly elites lived year-round in those areas, but during pilgrimages they occupied Canyon great houses associated with their respective dynasties, whereas their subjects occupied small houses situated on the Canyon floor. Not having 2000 people in the Canyon renders large-scale irrigated agriculture and massive importation of food unnecessary and provides an adequate explanation for the small number of burials found in the Canyon. Se presenta un nuevo paradigma del mundo chacoano, en el que el Cañón del Chaco es considerado como un complejo arquitectónico mayoritariamente desocupado que funcionaba principalmente como destino de peregrinación. Chaco fue el centro político, religioso y social de las personas que viven en regiones al aire libre. La población residente del Cañón consistía en un pequeño número de cuidadores, encargados de mantener grandes estructuras de casas, suministros de alimentos y su contenido ceremonial. Las jefaturas chacoanas se encontraban principalmente en grandes comunidades agrícolas bien regadas situadas en la base de montañas que anillan la cuenca de San Juan, por ejemplo, los Chuskas. Principalmente las élites vivían durante todo el año en esas áreas, pero durante las peregrinaciones ocuparon grandes casas del Cañón asociadas con sus respectivas dinastías, mientras que sus súbditos ocupaban pequeñas casas situadas en el suelo del Cañón. No tener 2000 personas en el Cañón hace que la agricultura de regadío a gran escala y la importación masiva de alimentos sean innecesarias y proporciona una explicación adecuada para el pequeño número de entierros encontrados en el Cañón

Terracotta Pipes with Triangular Engravings

The discovery of two smoking pipes from seventeenth-century contexts in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is used to suggest the presence in colonial times of a new set of stylistic norms derived from African traditions that are expressed at a regional scale not only in smoking pipes, but in a variety of items of material culture. These terracotta pipes, recovered at Bolívar 373 and the Liniers House sites, are characterized by their particular geometric decorative pattern, achieved by engravings and incisions. Similar specimens were found elsewhere inBuenos Aires, as well as in Cayastá (province of Santa Fe,Argentina) and Brazil.Fil: Zorzi, Flavia. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo. Instituto de Arte Americano e Investigaciones Estéticas ; ArgentinaFil: Schavelzon Chavin, Daniel Gaston. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo. Instituto de Arte Americano e Investigaciones Estéticas ; Argentin

Comparaison des pratiques bouchères et culinaires de différents groupes sibériens vivant de la renniculture

International audienceIn this paper, we present butchering and culinary practices of several different Siberian reindeer herding groups. The comparisons among these groups reveal similarities as well as few differences in the treatment of reindeer carcasses, the only subject presented in this study. The reference frame of cutmarks presented relative of Binford's one (1981) reveals the morphological variability of some cutmarks type, underlining the need for a survey of butchery patterns in other ethnic groups. Comparison with Paleolithic archaeological faunal assemblages show some dissimilarities that we try to explain.Les pratiques bouchères et culinaires de différents groupes sibériens vivant de la renniculture sont présentées. Les comparaisons réalisées mettent en évidence des similitudes mais également quelques différences dans la manière de traiter les carcasses de rennes qui sont notre seul sujet d'étude. Le référentiel de stries de boucherie présenté relativement à celui de L.R. Binford (1981) révèle la variabilité morphologique de certains types de traces, soulignant la nécessité de multiplier ce type d'approche. La comparaison avec les données issues du Paléolithique européen montre certaines différences que nous essayons d'interpréter

A Fishing Farm in the West Fjords of Iceland: A Preliminary Report of the Archaeofauna from Gjögur

The date for the onset of full scale commercial fisheries in Iceland remains somewhat controversial, but thus far the earliest radiocarbon dated seasonal fishing station (11th- 13th century) is in NW Iceland’s Strandasýsla County at Akurvík. This paper presents a preliminary report of the ongoing analysis of the large archaeofauna from the farm mound at Gjögur, 3 km from Akurvík, places the site of Gjögur in the wider context of the NW region of Iceland by comparing the site with the Akurvík archaeofauna, and outlines new methodologies of reconstructing live fish size and age based on recovered fish bones. Although the Akurvík site provides a first zooarchaeological look at a Medieval fishing station, it is the site of Gjögur that would have controlled and integrated Akurvík’s catches into the larger regional arena of Northern Iceland, as well as using fishing to aid the economy of Gjögur itself

An Interim Report of a Viking-Age & Medieval Archaeofauna from Undir Junkarinsfløtti, Sandoy, Faroe Islands

Cooperative international excavations at the site of Undir Junkarinsfløtti (27020) in the village of Sandur on the island of Sandoy, Faroe Islands in May 2003 recovered a stratified bone - rich midden deposit extending from the Viking Age to the early medieval period. The animal bone collection contains domestic mammals (cattle, sheep, dog, goat, and pig) and substantial amounts of fish (mainly cod), birds (mainly puffin and guillemot), and shellfish (mainly limpet). While the current collection has the archaeological limitations inherent in column samples, it suggests persistence of substantial pig keeping into the 13th c, and strongly indicates a sustainable exploitation of sea bird colonies as well as some preparation of preserved fish on site. The site has considerable potential for shedding light on early Faroese economy and the environmental impact of the local Viking age settlers

Islands of change vs. islands of disaster: Managing pigs and birds in the Anthropocene of the North Atlantic

The offshore islands of the North Atlantic were among some of the last settled places on earth, with humans reaching the Faroes and Iceland in the late Iron Age and Viking period. While older accounts emphasizing deforestation and soil erosion have presented this story of island colonization as yet another social–ecological disaster, recent archaeological and paleoenvironmental research combined with environmental history, environmental humanities, and bioscience is providing a more complex understanding of long-term human ecodynamics in these northern islands. An ongoing interdisciplinary investigation of the management of domestic pigs and wild bird populations in Faroes and Iceland is presented as an example of sustained resource management using local and traditional knowledge to create structures for successful wild fowl management on the millennial scale

Coping with Hard Times in NW Iceland: Zooarchaeology, History, and Landscape Archaeology at Finnbogastaðir in the 18th Century

During a cooperative archaeological project in NW Iceland (Strandasýsla) involving the Icelandic National Museum and Hunter College of the City University of New York.1990 season, a small rescue excavation at the site of Finnbogastaðir generated a quantifiable collection of animal bones dating to the early modern period, mainly to the 18th century. The 18th c was a period of hardship in much of Iceland, with widespread tenantry, adverse climate, and degradation of many terrestrial landscapes posing severe challenges to poor farmers- perhaps most intensely in the Vestfirðir. The animal bone collection from Finnbogastaðir reflects a multi-stranded subsistence economy involving seals, birds, and fish as well as domestic stock. Reconstruction of the fishing pattern indicates a mixed strategy that probably produced some stockfish for local exchange or for export but was mainly aimed at household provisioning. The nearly contemporary Jarðabók land register provides a direct comparison to the documentary record, and ongoing site survey and excavation in the NW provides a broader landscape/seascape perspective on the archaeofauna and documents. This small rescue investigation thus serves to illustrate the potential for an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to Iceland’s past, including periods with extensive documentary resources

Social-Ecological Resilience in the Viking-Age to Early-Medieval Faroe Islands

This dissertation aims to evaluate the development and maintenance of social-ecological resilience during the settlement-period (ca. 9th through 11th centuries CE) in the Faroe Islands. In particular, the core objectives include the identification of the key social and natural variables involved, the examination of how these variables contributed to overall resilience, and the investigation of the initiation of the Faroese domestic economy. This research focuses primarily on an analysis of the 9th through 13th century archaeofaunal assemblage from the site of Undir Junkarinsfløtti, located on the island of Sandoy. This analysis represents the first detailed study of the Faroese settlement-period domestic economy. In addition to the Undir Junkarinsfløtti archaeofaunal data, the research presented here draws from a wide range of archaeological, paleoenvironmental, and documentary evidence. These Faroese data are compared with contemporaneous datasets from elsewhere in the North Atlantic, including Iceland, Greenland, the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland, and western coastal Norway. Interpretation of this evidence is informed by a theoretical approach rooted in historical ecology, with an emphasis on the dynamic and dialectic nature of human-environment interactions, particularly as these relate to social-ecological resilience. This study suggests that the overall resilience of the Faroese social-ecological system can largely be attributed not only to the maintenance of a broad-based domestic economy that was heavily subsidized by the sustained exploitation of robust natural resources, but also to the development of a collaborative, community-based approach to resource management and use. In particular, these factors contributed to robustness against food shortfalls. The available evidence suggests that this resilient economic regime was initiated by a culturally-hybridized, Hiberno-Norse population

Objectivos e princípios metodológicos da arqueozoologia : estado da questão em Portugal

The importance of archaeofauna studies in the paeloecological and paleoclimatic characterization providing valuable information on economic level subsistance habits, social organization and cultural aspects of different groups based on the analysis of different spécies small and large mammals fish reptiles, amphibious and birds. Several quantification and treatment methods are presented introducing the state of this type of research in Portugal

A faunal analysis of the frazier site, an agate basin-age bison kill-butchery site in northeastern Colorado

The Frazier site (5WL268) was excavated in the late 1960s under the direction of Dr. H. Marie Wormington and represents the only known Agate Basin-age (ca. 10,000 years B.P.) bison kill-butchery site in Colorado. As such, it provides important information about Late Paleoindian subsistence on the High Plains. Left astragali indicate that a minimum of fort-four bison (B. antiquus) was killed at the site and measurements taken on the calcanea and metacarpals suggest the archaeofauna is largely comprised of demales and immature animals. While Wormington interpreted the site as a secondary processing area, bison skeletal part frequencies, bone breakage patterns and butchery evidence provide a refined picture of the site\u27s function, suggesting instead that it represents a kill locale. This interpretation is strengthened by a comparison with other Agate Basin site appears to reflect the selective removal of high-utility upper limb elements only, the skeletal element profile from the Frazier site suggests a scenario in which both high-utility upper limb elements and low-utility metapodials were transported from the site. Such behavior may be indicative of seasonal differences in bison carcass utility related to the Frazier site\u27s occupation late in the cold season (late winter-early spring)